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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061222">Quiet Hands</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theguywholikedmusicalchatfics/pseuds/Theguywholikedmusicalchatfics'>Theguywholikedmusicalchatfics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Asperger Syndrome, Autism, Autistic Penelope Garcia, Autistic Spencer Reid, Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), Blood and Injury, Canon Autistic Character, Case Fic, Fluff, It's Criminal Minds soooo, Murder, Protective Aaron Hotchner, Protective Derek Morgan, Stabbing, Stimming, Team as Family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:42:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>676</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061222</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theguywholikedmusicalchatfics/pseuds/Theguywholikedmusicalchatfics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The team are assigned a case where the victims where all diagnosed with Autism. The team use it as a chance to get to learn more about their autistic teammates, Reid and Garcia and learn about the struggles autistic people go through</p><p>(sorry that's a bad description)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>208</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Quiet Hands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I really wanted to write for the autistic Reid tag because I am autistic myself and relate a lot to his character but we don't see a lot of what his struggles would be as an autistic person just how smart he is and stuff. So I wanted to write something that talks about stimming, shutdowns, burnouts and non verbal communication.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Okay my lovelies" Garcia said stepping into the briefing room where the team was gathered "I have a case for you and it's a particularly upsetting one at that so let's get to work"</p><p>She placed the physical copy of the file in front of Reid and tapped her tablet to to send the file to each of the other agents tablets. Photos from the case appeared on the screen behind her, three photos of stabbing victims two male and one female. The photo of the female victim took over the whole screen as Garcia started to explain the case "Lisa Rogers, 23, was stabbed 13 times and killed in her house just outside Cincinnati, Ohio two days ago making her the third victim to be killed this way in the past two weeks." The two pictures with the men appeared again "The first  was Charlie Hinton, 16, oh poor baby, and the second was Robert Jackson, age 28."</p><p>"There's quite a difference in ages of the victims, ones 16, another's 28" Rossi said looking over the file on his own screen</p><p>"That and the fact that he kills both men and women means we can probably rule out sexual sadist" added Hotch</p><p>"No offense baby girl" Morgan said, turning his chair to face Penelope ", but we've seen stuff a lot worse than this. What about this case is 'particularly upsetting', ?"</p><p>"I'm happy you asked sugar, but I am not happy with the answer" she replied, changing the photos on the screen to what looked like patient files from a doctor or a therapist "each of the victims was diagnosed with ASD" </p><p>"Autism Spectrum Disorder" Reid supplied, twirling a pen in his hand. </p><p>"Yes exactly, and as you all know both me and Reid are diagnosed aspies and I really do not like the idea of people killing these poor kids because they are like me" Garcia continued, a little too fast. </p><p>"of course not" said Hotch, giving Penelope a sympathetic smile to let her know he understood why this case was so important to her</p><p>"Thank you sir, oh and one more thing" Garcia changed the photo on the screen once again "the killer left this message in blood on the walls above each victim" </p><p>"Quiet hands" Emily read the message allowed. Instinctively Ried stopped twirling his pen and quickly placed both his hands on the table in front of him, everyone at the table turned to look at him, he smiled sheepishly and picked back up his pen.<br/>
"This message mean something to you pretty boy?" Morgan asked softly.<br/>
Reid cleared his throat "eh, actually it does. Quiet hands is a phrase used in compliance-based and normalization therapies such as Applied behavioral analysis therapy. Applied Behavior Analysis rewards compliance with “normal” behavior, rather than seeking to understand what drives autistic actions and attacking the disabilities at their inception. It's taught to children with autism to stop them from stimming. children would be told "quiet hands" and expected to stop all stimming. If the child did not comply, the therapist would grab the child's hands and force them to be still. The practice was actually very harmful, causing many of the children to develop ptsd that prevents them from being able to self stimulate comfortably."</p><p>J.J could feel herself getting angry as she listened to Reid. She remembered how long it had taken him to get comfortable enough to stim around the team and the thought of something like this making it harder for him was hard not to get angry at. Henry had only just been diagnosed with aspergers and Jennifer knew for sure that she would do anything she could as a mother to make him feel comfortable stimming. "So is the unsub trying to cure their autism?" J.J looked around the table. </p><p>"it's possible" answers Reid "but the thing is autism can't be cured, it can only be hidden for a short amount of time" </p><p>"which means the unsubs just going to keep killing" </p><p>"wheels up in thirty" Hotch announced.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know this chapter is super short but I really wanted to just get the work out!<br/>Please leave a comment if you like it or if you didn't like it!<br/>Criticism is encouraged!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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